A naturopath who is well-known in the area recommends Stevia as a sweetener. I bought some to use in my iced tea rather than Equal. I like the taste, it has fiber in it but I'm wondering if there is anything BAD (or really good) I should know about it.

I know it's not approved by the FDA but then again, ?????????

I use it and love it......

Medicinal Ingredients:
One serving (packet) = 1/4 teaspoon (0.4 g) contains
Stevia Leaf Extract (Stevia rebaudiana)

Ingredients: Maltodextrin, Stevia, Inulin (natural extract of chicory root), calcium citrate, Vitamin C and Silica

Risk Information: Use with caution if you have known allergies to plants in the Aseteraceae/Compositae family (ragweed).

Karen

I use it too and love it. Interestingly I saw an add in one of my garden catalogs for stevia plants. I just might order one and dry the leaves. I'll let you know how that experiment works out, lol. Some of my lame-brained ideas do not turn out great - I think it is safe and certainly better than the "other stuff" out there. There is the fiber kind and regular. I have used both, but the fiber stevia dissolves slower, I have found. Hope it works out for you.

I use stevia all the time. It does have a distinct taste and some people don't like it all that well. To me it's a sort of bitter after taste. BUT, if I use it in anything that has a strong flavor of its own, I can't detect the stevia - just the sweetness. I use it in lemon and mint flavored teas, in my butternut squash soup that also has pumpkin spice in it, and in anything that contains vinegar.

I have grown stevia and dried the leaves. I crush the dried leaves and add to the water when brewing tea and it works well. Not as strong as using the extract, but then I don't like my tea super sweet anyway.

Equal can fry your brain....ditto for Splenda.

I have some liquid stevia with vanilla flavoring. It's AWESOME. Does anyone know if it's OK? I haven't had time to call on that one yet.

Don't worry about the FDA. Stevia is not a drug.

All the FDA does is funnel money to the drug companies....just my BIASED opinion!!

i also use stevia, but the liquid form.
it is chemical free, which is why i opt for it for over artificial sweeteners, and i enjoy the taste. i use it in coffee.

there haven't been as many studies on stevia as on splenda/aspartame/etc., but you can look them up on pubmed. one study showed reduced sperm producting in the testes of mice. another couldn't find the same results. that's the most controversial thing I could find. the europeans have listed it as 'believed to be safe' for a while, I believe. I use it, in small quantities, in beverages, myself.

just to add - artificial sweeteners aren't as bad as all these tests claim them to be... whenenever there are these cancerous links, these poor rats are pumped with the equivalent to (something similar to) ten diet colas. everything in moderation, really.

I use liquid stevia from planetary something or else. I think it's interesting - it imparts sweet but without you being able to tell what kind of sweet - not like honey or maple or even cane sugar.

However, if you use too much, you can taste it and it tastes a bit odd. I've used it in tea, in almond butter for a dessert, and even in vineagrette (not doing sugar at all anymore). I like it.

-Sherri

At least stevia is from a PLANT, not just a chemical.

it's just a chemical from a plant, though. as is sugar. :-P

Well, in a way that is true. Even though sugar (even brown sugar) has been highly refined, and all the vitamins and other good things have been taken out of it, leaving only the bad stuff.

Stevia is really just a herbal extract, and is considered a supplement. And really, from everything I have read (other than the bad-mouthing of companies that have a vested interest in people using their own products) I have read absolutely nothing bad about it. It appears to be perfectly safe for everybody, even diabetics.

The FDA hasn't been able to get it's dirty paws on it yet, because they aren't able to (fortunately) regulate all supplements yet. Otherwise it would likely be banned soon, as they seem to ban anything that doesn't benefit drug companies.

Thank you so much for the plant info! No one I know around here has grown it, so I am glad to hear drying the leaves would work. I plan on using it in tea or coffee with a tea ball or a filter. I am always excited to get a new plant

yea but is all nautral , just like Cocain, arsenic, tabacco, and etc, so it has to be good for you !


As for Stevia, time will tell. Presently its 2.5x the cost of splenda (based on the prices that I just checked last week or so at my local food store, per serving) which puts it out of reach for me.

As for the FDA, Stevia is not under thier authority as it is classified as an herbal suppliment, so any comments about the FDA aprove/not approve does not realy apply.

They TRY all the time, don't they!! We all have to be vigilant to keep our supplements and natural food products out of their paws. They are all about MONEY, NOT the safety of the public.

Vincent- You CRACK me up!!!!!!!!!!!! Always the voice of reason

Thanks everyone for your feedback.

I bought two 1-oz. bottles of NOW Stevia Extract from an internet site over two years ago and I have about 1/3 of the second bottle left. A little goes a very long way.

I often mix the powder in a small amount of water to dissolve it and then add it to my drink or salad or whatever in the liquid form. It is difficult to get the powder to dissolve in an acid liquid such as lemon or vinegar, so dissolving it in water first solves the problem. It is also easier to add a small amount in the liquid form. The water/stevia mixture will keep several days – I store it in a baby food jar.

I did a google search for NOW brand stevia and came up with many sites. allstarhealth.com seems to have a good price. NOW Stevia

A quote from this page:
NOW Stevia Extract is hypoallergenic and contains no sugar, salt, starch, yeast, wheat, gluten, corn, soy, milk, egg or preservatives

regular price/their price…
1 oz. $8.95/$4.49 servings per container: 1000
1 lb. $65.99/$39.49 servings per container: 16214

I use Stevia and Agave Syrup for sweetening and in my baking. After my diabetes diagnosis I tried some of the artifical sugars and they caused some pain under my ribs on the right. It went away when I stopped eating or drinking stuff that had them. The sugar alcohols are nasty, who needs D, but I haven't had any problems with either the stevia or the agave.

STEVIA IS AWESOME!

I read that they injected mice with 800 times the daily dose a human would consume and they had no health problems (for what that's worth).

I spent $8 on one bottle of the powdered variety and I use it on everything... it's lasted over three months!

And we can all use more fibre!

The gluten-free and I are praying that a major food manfuacturer will start actually using Stevia to mfg baked goods. Unfortunately there is some legal reason in the US Stevia is not yet allowed to be sold as a formal "sweetener" (just as a supplement).

So far so good. Now if they would only put it in diet Coke... I'd be all set!

I read someplace that the Japanese use stevia in their diet sodas - they never used aspertame and it's outlawed. They are smarter than us in that me thinks.

I agree IMO they don't have our best interests at heart, just because the FDA approves something doesn't mean it is safe or good for us it just means that someone had a lot of money and got the right people to lobby for them, look at all the prescriptions that they approved that caused liver damage and eventually death, so as far as the opinions on health, wellness and herbs I will stick with advice of my friend and Naturpathic Doctor and let the FDA do whatever they do without my support. I try to do everything herbally and naturally, afterall a life w/o meds is the life for me! I do like sweetleaf stevia and cactus agave nectar for sweetening they are the best around IMO!

It's the only sweetner allowed on the healing diet I am on-haven't bought any yet. LL

In case anyone is still interested: Stevia is 100 times more sweet that table sugar.
Depending upon the brand of stevia it can contain maltdextrose or lactose.

here is a *portion guide.*--2 tsp of Regular sugar is equal to 2 tsp of granulated sucralose ( granulated splenda) or 1 packet of spoonable stevia or 1/2 tsp of spoonable stevia in bulk form or 1/4 tsp of liquid stevia or 1/16 tsp of pure stevioside.
The strength of stevia will vary from one brand to the next. The brand that is the highest in pure steviosides will give you a sweet taste without bitterness.
The above portions is based on an extract with over 90% steviosides. If using stevia with less than 90% reduce the portions by 30%. This will avoid the bitter taste while not being as sweet. In using stevia in baking I have portioned out what the recipie would call for sugar - used the stevian equivelant and then gradually added it to the recipie. I sometimes dont use all the portioned out stevia. There are cookbooks just for stevia at your local natural food store.

I bought NuStevia at Whole Foods. It's in a purple box and says on the back that it contains no gluten, wheat, soy, yeast, milk synthetics, artificial colors or flavors, preservatives, saccharin, aspartame, sucralose or artificial sweetners. I also buy the Stevia Plus brand as it has inulin in it and try to use 2 packs of that a day and the rest I use the nu-tone. It dissolves really well. The Whole Foods brand of Stevia doesn't really dissolve and makes your beverage cloudy. Even Trader Joe now has their own brand of Stevia.

i found this coupon for stevia and wanted to share: ENJOY:)

www.sweetleaf.com/coupon.pdf

I will only have stevia, xylitol, or regular sugar..will not have anything artificial

So it's gluten-free? How many calories?

Zero, but be careful. If you are alergic to anything in the ragweed family (like I am) you will be alergic to it. Also if you have problems with your blood pressure (esply if you take blood pressure meds) or low blood sugar, you probably can not use stevia safely. In South America it is prescribed to ppl to reduce blood sugar or blood pressure.

Okay, I have never used stevia before, until yesterday, and I have some questions here.

I got some protein shakes to supplement for breakfast. I need to eat a healthy breakfast, but don't have much time, and since I can't do dairy, it was suggested I try a good egg white protein powder. So I got Jay Robb's egg white protein powder and had my first shake for breakfast yesterday. I got strawberry and chocolate. I mixed the strawberry powder with some frozen strawberries and 1 tbsp. of almond butter. It tasted really good, but within 1/2 hour I felt sick. I was dizzy, had a splitting headache, my body hurt and as the day went on I had NO energy. I finally took a pain pill and went to bed.

I woke up feeling much better this morning and had a chocolate shake, thinking if I felt that bad again, then I was probably reacting to something in the shakes. I mixed the chocolate powder with 1 cup of chocolate almond milk and 1 tsp flaxseed oil. It was good and I felt fine all day. So I thought I would test the strawberry shake by mixing some and trying it after dinner. Again I felt horrible, just like yesterday. I am sitting here with a headache, bodyache, I am dizzy and I have no energy. So I checked the labels and this is the contents:

Chocolate: Pure extracted egg white albumen, natural flavors, bromelain (digestive enzyme from pineapple) and papain (digestive enzyme from papaya).

Strawberry: Pure extracted egg white albumen, natural flavors, stevia, bromelain (digestive enzyme from pineapple) and papain (digestive enzyme from papaya).

Both are labeled gluten free and dairy free, and are from chickens not fed with hormones.

So my question is could this reaction be from the stevia? Could this be an allergic reaction? I am mildly allergic to EVERYTHING on the skin test allergy panel, and severely allergic to dust mites and alfalfa. So since I am mildly allergic to everything, that would include the ragweed family. Is there anyone out there who has had a similar reaction that could have been caused by stevia?

At this point I am going to stop using the strawberry mix, and stick to the chocolate and the plain (just egg whites without the flavoring or enzymes) for my shakes. Honey gives me a migraine, I have bad reactions to all artificial sweeteners, but I can use real sugar (white, brown and raw) and agave with no problems.

Yes, if your alergic to anything in the ragweed family, you will be alergic to stevia. Ragweed is a fairly comon allergen and would be on that panel for sure. Thats why I aviod stevia.

i have heard from a handful of people allergic to ragweed they could not tolerate stevia.

if you have no other intolerances to those other products, i wouldn't doubt it.

I use liquid stevia and it sweetens great, but goes from sweet to bitter in literally a drop. Recently, the barista at Whole Foods had me try xylitol. It was great! Looks like sugar, measures like sugar, bakes like sugar and tastes like sugar-but with 40% of the food energy (calories). I bought some, took it home and replaced the sugar in the sugar bowl and NOBODY KNEW! It is accepted by the Am Diabetic Assoc., 100% natural and it is NOT derived from anything that contains gluten. The best info on it is on wikipedia.com

xylitol can cause loose stools and bowel discomfort in some people, particularly at larger doses. but in small doses, it's used in lots of places quite safely.

I am just getting over a sever reaction to Stevia. I bought a box of NOW packets at the organic store. The only sugar I use is in my morning coffee. I thought it would be great to replace that with Stevia and it's "benefits". This reaction is beyond brain fog, it's almost psychotropic, along with extreme exhaustion and a bronchitis attack. Stevia is the only thing it could be, the only new introduction into my diet. I wish I had realized it had the potential to cause an allergic reaction. If the package had mentioned, if any of the glowing literature I've read in the last few weeks had mentioned it was part of the ragweed family I'd of steered clear of it.

Violet

I have been using stevia for awhile and have never had a reaction to it, but then again I don't have very many allergies. I have read of a few people having allergic reactions to stevia but they are very few and far between. I hate to suggest this but maybe its the brand? A lot of packaged powdered stevia add fillers into the stevia like maltodextrin or silica to bulk it up. Make sure when you're buying stevia (if you decided to give it another try) that you check the label.

I've been using SweetLeaf as my brand of choice because they offer so many different varieties of stevia. They have it in the green packages with fiber as a filler, but they also carry it in liquid form and as just pure stevia extract. I think the extract is too sweet but it can be great for cooking.

If you're willing to give it a try again I'd check out these videos I found on YouTube about SweetLeaf and stevia to get more info:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6wwMAe_Hi0k

http://youtube.com/watch?v=s5ILDC5Cx_o